Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, a 10-time All-Star and the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1984, died Monday, the Chicago Cubs announced. He was 65. He died at his home in Illinois surrounded by family members.

“Ryno,” who spent 15 of his 16 major league seasons with the Cubs, announced in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.

“Ryne Sandberg was a hero to a generation of Chicago Cubs fans and will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in nearly 150 years of this historic franchise,” Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement. “His dedication to and respect for the game, along with his unrelenting integrity, grit, hustle, and competitive fire were hallmarks of his career. He was immensely proud of his teammates and his role as a global ambassador of the game of baseball, but most of all, he was proud of Margaret, his children and his role as husband, father, and grandfather.”

Sandberg was a 10-time All-Star in Chicago from 1982 to 1997. He hit 282 home runs, had 344 stolen bases and compiled a career batting average of .285, according to Baseball-Reference.com. He began his major league career in 1981 with the Philadelphia Phillies.

He was an 11-time Gold Glove Award winner, and during his MVP season he led the Cubs to a division title, the team’s first postseason appearance since the 1945 World Series.

Sandberg was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

After his playing career ended, Sandberg was the manager of the Phillies, where he compiled a record of 119-159 from 2013 to 2015, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Sandberg was born Oct. 18, 1959, in Spokane, Washington, WBBM-TV reported. He was the youngest of four children of Derwent “Sandy” Sandberg, a mortician, and Elizabeth “Libby” Sandberg, a nurse, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

The Cubs acquired Sandberg from the Phillies on Jan. 27, 1982. The Phillies traded the young infielder for five-time All-Star Larry Bowa for Iván de Jesus.

Sandberg had a breakout season in 1984, batting .314 with 19 home runs, 36 doubles, 19 triples, 84 RBI and 32 stolen bases. He scored 114 runs.

That sparked the Cubs to the N.L. East title, but the team lost to the San Diego Padres in the NLCS in five games after winning the first two.

The Cubs made only one more playoff appearance with Sandberg on the roster, in 1989.

In his last public message to Cubs fans on social media on July 16, Sandberg said he had undergone several challenging months of treatment.

“While I am continuing to fight, I’m looking forward to making the most of every day with my loving family and friends,” Sandberg wrote. “I haven’t been to Wrigley Field as much as I hoped in the first half but I’m watching every game and am excited to see Wrigley rocking like 1984!”

© 2025 Cox Media Group